hisvett

My first impressions of the track at Eagle’s Canyon in one word; AUSUM! Linda and David Cook have turned a 640 acre parcel of Texas cattle grazing land into a challenging 11 turn, 2.5 mile road course, located just over an hour north of Fort Worth in the rolling hills just West of Slidell (a wide spot in the road). The membership Country Club is tailored for avid road racers…..professional or just want-to-be’s. This Diamond in the rough just opened the end of last year. The Cooks have plans of adding a member’s club house, garages, a control tower with an automated light system and acres of grass. Currently a 8000 sq ft building is fulfilling the duties of a meeting hall, classroom, snack bar, garage, and observation deck. I have no doubt that this facility will be a world class attraction in the near future.

The Drivers Edge, located in the metroplex of DFW, hosted its first track day at EC just a week ago. With 130+ cars in attendance under a damp & cloudy Saturday morning sky, the track was as slippery as Goose Grease for the first couple of sessions. This was kinda a good thing; it kept everyone’s speed down in the advance group, allowing us time to study the race line, bumps and landmarks while slipping & sliding through several corners. Sunday, on the other hand, started out cloudy but warm and dry, then gradually improved as the day went on.

Taking a first glance at the EC track map, it looks a lot like a “Point and Shoot” type of a course with lots of hard breaking (parking the car) before entering several 180 turns. NOT SO! With some studying and a little practice, this is a decent momentum course. The track has great elevation changes, some 70 feet of up and down, which gives big rewards to cars with high torque! Turns 1, 7 and 9 pays good dividends on exit speed to those with patience’s enough to take a late apex and turns 5 & 10 are right hander’s with a hard climbs onto a 90 and 120 MPH straights leading into a 180 degree left turn. Turn 10 is probably my favorite. This turn works best by; making a diamond eight turn at mid-track apex and immediately going to full power, then letting the car drift all the way left while accelerating up the hill, tagging the curbing at the crest while grabbing a gear just before the limiter kicks in….a great adrenalin rush!

Trying to get the car stopped after a 2000ft. 4 gear run from turn 6 into a VERY slow Left turn at 7 will often lead to moments of shear terror!. On a few occasions I could feel the ole Sphincter pucker just prior to a moment of “Sucking Seat Cushion” and wondering if my new BHP pads were going to hold up their end of the deal…….which they did, and very well I might add (See product test below).

Overall, the weekend was a blast, but then when was the last time you ever had a bad day at the track? For those who live in the DFW area, the next TDE track day at EC will be in September….add this to you calendar NOW! Check out the following links below for more information about EC and TDE;

The Drivers Edge http://www.thedriversedge.net/index.html

Eagle’s Canyon http://www.eaglescanyon.com/2008/home.php

In-Car Track Videos
My check ride…everybody gets a check ride at a new track, even the instructors.


Playing tag with George, Chapter One….from George’s car..



Chapter Two….from inside my car.



BHP Brake Pads




Brake Horse Power product review

Prior to the last track weekend, I found myself in need of new brake pads for all four corners. Thanks to Jody’s post on BHP brake pads a month earlier, I contacted Mike Nicholson at BHP for a bottom line, delivered to my door price and found them to be about a 100 buck$ less than the PFC 01's. As a surprise bonus, each set of pads came with a bottle of good high temp Dot 4 brake fluid. Not sure if this will be a normal thing or is just a promo but I figure this was at least a $30 value, ChaChing!.

Just for reference, I drive a stock C5 with no mods other than the normal tires, wheels, brakes and seat swap. I have been running in the Advance (Red) group with TDE for the last several years, attending 8 to 12 track days per year.

As I mentioned, I just ran through a set of 01's. They lasted 11 track days, on three different tracks, TMS, MSR and TWS down south. I found the 01's to work very well with no peddle change after 8, 20 to 30 minute sessions per weekend. Peddle modulation was very controllable once they were brought up to working temp. Overall, I have been quite pleased with PFC.

Now on to BHP pads. The 100 buck savings right off the get-go put BHP in favorable light. The pads come nicely packaged with decals and bedding instructions. Both front and rear pads come with .400 of lining material.

After installing the pads, I took a short ride to TMS. Using the massive parking lot access roads around the track, I followed the manufactures instructions for bedding the pads in. After getting just a small amount of heat into the pads, I found it very easy to activate the ABS with my street tires on, most impressive. About this time I'm thinking, "Theses pads might be a killer set-up for the street"! That idea vaporized once I returned home and saw the amount of brake dust on my polished aluminum wheels. O'well, turning my track wheels black is the least of my worries.

The following weekend, with the car in full "Track Trim", I headed out to Eagle’s Canyon for a weekend of track shredding. Once on the track with tires and brake pads heated up, slowing the car down repeatedly from 100+ was effortless. Even when entering into a corner over my head, they answered my request for more stopping with just a bet more push of the brake peddle. The BHP pads continued to work very well all weekend with no change in peddle feel.

Because this was my first time at EC, I can't compare lap times or my normal braking zones but I have an idea that they will be every bit as good if not better than the 01's. The amount of Pad ware looked to be comparable to the 01’s, at about .050 average on the fronts after 8 X 20 minute sessions. Overall, I would be very pleased to recommend or purchase another set of the BHP Race Pads from what I have experienced over the weekend.

More info; http://bhpbrakes.com/ or email Mike Nicholson mnicholson@bhpbrakes.com

johninar

I'm jealous. Our 50th AE group had an orientation session (low speed laps) at EC before they had the top coat on. It was enough to see it would be a fun track to run on. I can't wait to come down and see for myself. Thanks for sharing.

hisvett

John, if you liked it then, you will love it now

mattnicholson

Just to clarify, my name is Matt, not Mike

Glad you liked the pads.

Falcon

Hey Matt, first I called you Lee and now you're known as Mike. Maybe you should just change your name.

yakisoba

I am way jealous. I was an alternate to the political convention in my county that weekend... and I was called. I spent my day thinking of ya'll up at Eagles Canyon, but listening to votes and resolutions. Had duty not called, I'd have made the trip.

Sounds like a nice track, and hope to drive on it in September.

mattnicholson

As long as you call me for pads, I don't care what name you call me

2K3Z06

Hey Mike,

What kind of lap times did you run? The last time I was out there (Dec. 07) the timing system wasn't finished.

I hope to get back out there this month or in May, money has been a little tight, lately.

Robert Lewis

hisvett

When I was trying to run George down, I turned a 2:04 but that was ringing the ole C5 out pretty much to the max. Once I get better at a few more corners I might see something close to 2 flat but that's probable about all my little motor and stock setup is good for.

George should be getting Blackey back on the track by the end or start of next month. Once he gets behind the wheel of that thing I wont stand a chance. I can make up for a 50 horse deficit most of the time but not 250!

Hope to see ya at the track soon!

hisvett

Registration is now open for ECR in September



http://www.thedriversedge.net/02_tracks.htm

JohnD60

Mike,

Great write up as always. Looks like you had a great time.

I'm disappointed as well. I was signed up for this event but experienced RV tire problems about 20 mile north of Georgetown and spent the weekend (as well as a lot of money) getting tires replaced.

I look forward to seeing you there in Sept.

John

OzCop

Thanks for sharing the vids. They have done a tremendous amount of work since I was there last summer. Looks like it's gonna be a great place to play...